


The Haunting of Voltron Manor

by Pryde_of_kittens



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Ghosts, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by The Haunting of Hill House, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), They flip houses, Worried Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2020-06-02 14:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19443691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pryde_of_kittens/pseuds/Pryde_of_kittens
Summary: This is a recount of June 25 to June 30, also known as the five days that team Voltron stayed in the Voltron Manor.Alternatively,Lance would argue that he is perfectly stable, and yet for five days straight he questions his own sanity. Keith is pining, and the team is worried. But one things for sure, ghosts love to torment Lance.





	1. Days 1 & 2

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I hope you enjoy this fic, I've been working on it for quite some time. This was inspired by the flashback scenes in haunting of hill house! Thank you so much for reading <3

Day 1 - 12:05 PM

As the door to Voltron Manor swung open, light bled through the crevice and spilled out onto the gray concrete floor. 

Lance was the first to walk in. He dragged two large suitcases behind him, one filled with his clothes and the other with work tools. Immediately after stepping foot into the mansion, he stopped and stared in awe.

“You’re blocking the door.” Keith grumbled from behind him, attempting the squeeze himself between Lance and the door frame. Lance shook out of his stupor and moved farther into the large entrance area. 

“It’s beautiful.” Lance said with certainty, eyes trailing over the slightly stale mansion. There was a large wooden stairway that split off in both directions once it hit the second floor. A chandelier hung low from the ceiling above them, and Lance had a distant thought that cleaning it was going to be a nightmare.

Keith turned his gaze across the room, attempting to see what Lance liked about it. “Yeah, its pretty spacious. A bit dusty though.” He ran his pointer finger along the wall, and it came back covered in soot. He sighed and wiped it off on his pants, something Lance would normally call him out for if he wasn’t so mesmerized.

The others finally managed to enter, Hunk gaping from the doorway. “Holy shit, its huge!”

Pidge walked past him and set her stuff down next to the stairway, not seeming at all fazed. It made sense though, considering she was the one who came to view it when it was first auctioned. She always needed to make sure the houses aren’t too hard to fix up.

Three years ago, Lance and his four closest friends started working together. They buy cheap auctioned houses, usually not as luxurious as this one, and flip them. They invest in creating a warm living space, then resell the houses for a higher price, gaining a steady income. 

Yet, this house felt different to the all of the ones before. It was undeniably beautiful, but there was a certain eerie feeling to it. Maybe it was because the air was stuffy. Nothing they couldn’t fix with some more ventilation.

“Come on, the bedrooms are upstairs.” Pidge urged, pulling her suitcase behind her. 

The others followed suit, climbing their way to the second floor on the surprisingly steep stairs. The next story held two long hallways that conjoined at the stairway, both holding multiple doors. 

As they wondered off to choose their rooms for the next couple months, Lance decided to stray towards the left hallway. Shiro and Keith also chose this hallway, Pidge and Hunk going in the opposite direction. Shiro automatically picked the first door to the right, and Keith chose the room only a door down from Shiro’s. 

Normally, Lance would just choose the room closest to the others, but he decided to take his time choosing this time. He eventually settled on a room placed on the left side of the hallway, quite deep into it, about a door down from the room rivaling Keith’s. Lance’s room was close to the end of the hall, where a right turn could be taken into another deeper hallway.

“Hmm.” Lance jumped slightly at Keith’s voice. He was leaning against Lances door frame as he observed the room. “It seems none of the rooms have bathrooms in them. There’s one across from my room though.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows, “That’s weird.” Usually at least the master bedrooms had their own restrooms.

“Alright guys, let’s start planning!” Shiro’s voice announced from the hallway.

Lance grinned at Keith, obviously excited to get started, and bound past him into the hall. Keith shook his head fondly, but turned to join them, closing Lance’s bedroom door behind him.

~~~

Day 2 - 2:33 AM

The first official night in the house, Lance abruptly woke with a start. He had been having a pleasant enough dream, one he couldn’t remember too well, so he didn’t know why he’d woken up. He rubbed his eyes in the darkness, and a glance at his digital alarm clock told him that it was almost three in the morning. 

It was odd for him to wake up during the night, usually he slept like a rock. Plus, the day had been long and tiring. Popping his neck instinctively, Lance glanced around to see what might have woken him up. 

The only visible light in his room was the dim moonlight that shone through the window on his far left wall. It illuminated a strip through the bedroom, landing on the door that stood on the right wall. It remained closed, just as Lance had left it.

Lance let out a small sigh, settling in to fall back asleep. Then he heard it. A light rattle of metal, coming from the doorway. It took his exhausted brain a second to realize that someone was moving the doorknob.

He waited a couple seconds to see if anyone would open the door, it wasn’t locked after all, but the door remained firmly shut. With a groan, Lance got out of bed and made his way to the entrance.

He pulled the door open, expecting to see Shiro checking up on him in a fit of paranoia, or Keith coming to complain he was snoring too loud. But the doorway was empty.

Hesitantly stepping into the hall, Lance glanced back and forth to see if anyone was there. He was completely alone, the silent hallway empty and all of his friend’s doors were shut.

He frowned in confusion and shut his door, retreating back to his tempting bed. But just as he shimmied under the covers, the doorknob started to jiggle again. 

Lance froze in his movements and looked back at the knob, as if compelling it to stop. It didn’t stop. If anything, it got more frantic.

Throwing back his comforter in frustration, Lance once again went and opened the door to find an empty hallway. He was starting to feel a little bit jittery.

He closed the door slowly, but stayed standing in front of it, eyes on the doorknob. A couple moments of silence went by and just when Lance was starting to think he was delusional, it started to turn and shake as if someone was twisting it back and forth.

Lance grasped it with his hand and held it firm, thinking maybe there was some sort of wind or movement through the house that was causing it. He held it very steady, yet the knob started to vigorously move in Lance’s hand, with enough strength that Lance couldn’t hold it still.

He threw open the door in an instant and caught a glimpse of a dark figure. Lance froze in terror, but before his eyes could adjust, it was gone. Edging out, he wildly looked around, but again he was alone in the hallway. 

Lance slowly walked back into his room, glancing around it for signs of an intruder and closed the door again. He went back to his bed, ready to ignore any sounds that came, but the doorknob didn’t move again that night.

~~~

Day 2 - 9:16 AM

Lance swept the floor methodically, his hips moving in tune with the music blasting throughout the first floor entrance area. He had a significant pile of dirt and dust formed already, and he had only been sweeping for about ten minutes. The rest of the crew went out to buy more supplies, though Lance didn’t mind. Sometimes he enjoyed the quiet. 

This morning, he had decided not to tell the others about last night. He almost told Shiro, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a nightmare or his overactive imagination. No use in worrying the others by it.

_ Oh I wanna dance with somebody- _

Lance sang along under his breath, feeling at peace as he leisurely moved the broom.

_ I wanna feel the heat with s-s-s-s-s--- _

Lance paused as the music started to glitch and loop itself around that last syllable. After a couple seconds of waiting for it to correct itself, Lance sighed and set the broom against the stairway next to him. He walked across the room, towards the entrance of the house and approaching a small mahogany table to the right of the large doorway. It held Lances phone and the handheld speaker it was attached to.

He snatched up his phone quickly and repeatedly pressed the pause button, hoping to stop the horrible screeching sound that the speaker was emitting. No such luck. His phone was completely frozen, no wonder the music was jammed. It wouldn’t pause or shut down. Lance turned his attention to the handheld speaker, switching it off. Yet, the sound continued to play loudly. 

Lance stared, bewildered, at the speaker in his hand that was technically off, yet still playing. Finally, he set the speaker down and pulled the chord from his phone, disconnecting the two.

The music shut off in an instant, silence filled the room. Lance’s shoulders fell in relief and he attempted to turn on his phone. However, it had shut off, apparently glitching. Setting his phone back down, Lance resigned to finish his cleaning without music. Yet, when he turned back towards the staircase, he found that his broom wasn’t there.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he rushed over to the steps and searched around them for the missing broom. He had distinctly remembered setting it against the staircase. Hadn’t he?

Finally, Lance spotted the broom leaning on the wall to the far left of the room, opposite to where his phone and speaker sat.

Lance’s heart clenched for a minute as he stood there staring at it. He  _ definitely _ hadn’t put it over there.

Hesitantly, he walked over to the broom and lifted it off the wall, feeling it’s cold metal sinking into his palm. He turned his gaze critically to the surface it had set against. Lance lifted his hand and ran his finger over it, feeling a slight indention in the wall. It was a thin line that ran vertically and was covered by the wall paper. He trailed it down, realizing it ran all the way to the floor. About halfway down, an inch to the right of the line, there was a keyhole also covered by wallpaper. Lance wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking for it.

He pulled his hand away, and went to find some sort of knife. He had found a door, yet he didn’t remember seeing this room on the floor plan. Part of making a house easier to sell is finding out all of its dirty secrets and either exposing them or hiding them.

Lance had a feeling he knew what he should do with this one.

Finally, he found a pocket knife nestled into one of Hunk’s tool boxes. He ran back downstairs towards the wall. He needed to hurry before everyone else returned.

It was strange, but something was telling him that he needed to do this by himself.

He ran the knife along the edges of the door, cutting into the old wallpaper. Then he cut into the keyhole and pulled out his ring of keys that were given to him when they first bought the house.

None of the keys were labeled, so Lance started from the far left and worked his way down the ring. He inserted the first key, turned it, and found resistance. That was okay. He had about twenty more to try. At around the tenth key, he heard a click as the door unlocked. Smiling victoriously, he stood from where he’d been kneeling and pulled the door open from the key, considering there was no door knob.

The first thing Lance registered was the chill. He couldn’t see anything as it was pitch black inside, yet if felt wrong somehow. 

Lance’s heart climbed into his throat and his breathing got heavier. He physically swallowed and took a couple deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. It was just a room.

He fetched a flashlight from supplies he had set next to the stairs and shone it into the room.

Stairs. It was a flight of wooden stairs that led into some sort of basement, too far to see even with the flashlight. This was pretty much the beginning of every horror movie Lance had ever seen. His perspective changed and at this point, he hoped the others showed up soon. Because if not, he’d feel compelled to head down there alone, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that.

Yet some part of him did. The instinctual part of him said that it was dangerous, yet the realistic part of him said this wasn’t a movie. This was real life and the only reason Lance was scared was because he was psyching himself out.

With that thought, Lance took one last look at the entrance door and headed into the unknown.

As he climbed down the unstable steps, Lance had to force himself not to flinch at the creaks the stairs emitted. It was obvious they hadn’t been used in a very long time. He found that the stairs quickly bled into a large cement room with a couple pieces of old furniture lying around.

Lance paused once he reached the bottom to search for a light switch. Towards the center of the room, he spotted a hanging string. Rushing towards it, desperate to get some more light, he gave the string a couple tugs before realizing that it wasn’t a light switch at all.

Frowning, Lance shined his flashlight at the ceiling, finding the indention of a small door. It seemed like an attic entrance, something extremely odd to find inside a basement.

Bewildered, he turned away in favor of continuing his search for a light switch. He would investigate more once he could see properly.

Eventually, Lance found a switch in the far right corner of the room. Flipping it on, light shone around the entire perimeter of the room. He had never seen a room like this one. Bulbs lined the edges of all four walls, yet there were no lights in the middle of the room.

Lance could finally see the room clearly though, and he also noticed that the stair case landed right in the center of the room, meaning there was just as much space behind it as there was in front of it. However, it was hidden from immediate view.

He turned off his flashlight and stuck it in his pocket, leaving the majority to stick out. He found himself exploring the room in awe, running his hand along the antique furniture. It was beautiful.

Just as he was running his hands along a wooden piano painted deep black, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Lance spun around towards the staircase, his paranoia rising steadily. He stood frozen there for a second, waiting for some sort of movement. His eyes drifted around the room before they traveled back to the only area of the room he couldn’t see. The space behind the stair case. Pulling out his flashlight again, just so he could have something to hold and possibly swing, Lance slowly moved towards the left of the stairs. He peeked around them, half expecting something to pop out at him, yet he found the area entirely empty.

Glancing around one last time, he carefully moved into the empty space, searching for something unknown. In that moment, a large bang came from behind him.

Lance spun around in fear, but the bang was followed by a shout.

“Lance, we’re back!”

Lance felt his entire body crumple in relief at the sound of Keith’s voice. “Down here!” Lance shouted back as he made his way towards the bottom of the stairs. He heard the muffled sound of footsteps become slowly clearer, and the whole gang filled into the basement, all with similar looks of amazement.

“What the hell is this place?” Pidge marveled as she inspected the rustic sofa with Hunk. Her small figure was dwarfed as she sank heavily into the couch, eyes taking in the room as quickly as she could.

“And how did you find it?” Keith added on, approaching Shiro as he inspected the light bulbs.

Lance took a seat on the bottom step, content with observing now that the others were there. “I noticed the door hidden under that old wallpaper. One of the keys they gave to us unlocked it. Though, I don’t remember seeing it on the floor plan?” He looked at Pidge for confirmation, as the blueprints were largely left to her.

“This definitely isn’t on the floor plan.” Pidge confirmed, “You know, I thought it was weird when they said this place didn’t have a basement. Old mansions like this almost always have one.”

“All this means is another room to clean and renovate.” Shiro sighed loudly, turning back to face the others.

Hunk gasped. “Imagine how many bugs are down here.” He said in horror, creeping back towards the stairs, rubbing his hands together nervously. Pidge shot him a mischievous look, one Lance was sure would be followed up later.

“I like it.” Keith declared loudly with a grin, gingerly sitting on the old couch. He seemed to revel in the creepiness of the room.

“I’m going to go draw up a new floor plan.” Pidge stood and rushed up the stairs, also obviously excited.

“And I’m going to finish cleaning the entrance.” Lance quickly followed, though he just wanted an excuse to finally leave the disturbing basement. Hunk’s heavy steps echoed behind him, followed closely by the others. Keith’s were slightly hesitant though, like he wanted to stay and explore it further.

“We should unload the car.” Shiro told Hunk, already walking towards the front doors. Keith followed them silently, and Lance had the realization that he hadn’t investigated the entrance on the ceiling of the basement.

Lance thought about it for a second, debating going back down, but ended up shrugging and grabbing the broom again, determination to clean the entrance filling his mind.

“Did you find me that deep red paint?” Lance asked Keith as he reentered the walkway with a few reusable bags. 

Keith perked up, chest puffing out slightly, “Oh right!” Quickly setting down his bags, he turned around and walked over to a couple cans of paint that Lance hadn’t noticed before. He lifted them with ease, his biceps flexing which Lance had to forcefully tear his eyes away from.

“I think this was what you were going for? You’re the decorating expert though.” He grinned easily, bringing them into view. They were roughly what Lance had in mind, so he gave a happy nod and took one.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Lance realized that it was quite heavy. Damn, Keith was strong.

“Need help there.” Keith’s voice was teasing.

Lance quickly took the other one, “Shut up, I got it.” He walked over to the table and set them down quickly, unwilling to back down. 

Keith just laughed silently at this, as if he found Lance’s competitiveness funny, and explained a few more of the items they had picked up. 

“We got a few more rollers, just in case.” Keith finished up, by now Lance was standing next to him. 

“Does that mean you’ll help me paint?” Lance smirked in his direction, already expecting a decline. Usually, Lance had to rope Hunk into helping him since no one else could bear it. Lance could be quite the perfectionist when it came to painting. It was important to do even strokes to prevent streaks and patches, something the others did not understand the importance of.

However Keith, always full of surprises, turned away when they made eye contact, mumbling “Yeah, sure.” Lance couldn’t help but stare at him, knowing how frustrated Keith became when he had to work with Lance.

What Lance didn’t know was that earlier Shiro had told Keith that if he wanted their relationship to progress, he would have to make an effort to spend more time with Lance. Here was Keith, putting in an effort.

“Okay. No take backs.” Lance said quickly, shooting Keith a stern look and turning his face towards the supplies to hide the smile that split across his face. Silently, they continued their tasks, shooting glances at the other when they weren't looking. Yet, in the back of Lance's mind the mystery of the basement still lie, waiting to be uncovered. 


	2. Days 3 & 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith get closer. They experience some haunting together. Lance isn't having a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for reading! The last chapter should be up fairly soon. Thank you so much for your support! <3

Day 3 - 5:43 AM

At a slight tickling sensation on his cheek, Lance slowly awoke. He was sleeping on his back, not an unusual position as he sometimes slept with homemade face masks. He scrunched up his nose at the tickle, but he couldn’t reach up to scratch it. 

In fact, he couldn’t move at all.

Lance peeled open his eyes, immediately realizing he was staring into someone else’s eyes.

An immediate sense of panic flooded him, but his body refused to move. He did nothing but stare at the face less than a foot from his, so close he hypothetically would be able to feel their breath. If they had one. 

It seemed to be a woman with long hair, falling down onto Lance’s cheeks and creating that tickling sensation. Her eyes were unnaturally wide and her mouth hung open. Her skin was dark with a gray tint to it, and her body floated mid air, perfectly aligning with Lance’s.

Lance felt his heart speed up, his breathing became audible and deep, as if he was running long distance. Yet, his body still refused to move, no matter how hard he struggled.

He closed his eyes, desperate to erase the horrendous face he had seen. It didn’t erase her presence though, as he could still feel her hair on his cheek. His mind ran through options of what to do in this situation, what to do when he could move again.

With the plan he concocted fresh in his mind, he impatiently waited for feeling to return to his limbs. Once it did, though not soon after, he kept his eyes closed and sprung out of his bed. He ran in the direction of the door, and once he reached it, his hands fumbled to open it. Finally, he wrenched it opened and spilled out into the hall.

Only then did he open his eyes. 

Staring into his dark room, it was hard for him to see with only the moonlight. Yet, he could see enough to tell that there wasn’t anyone on or above his bed. He refused to go back inside though. Instead he turned around and walked into the nearest occupied room. Keith’s.

Keith was laying in his bed wide awake, watching something that Lance couldn’t hear on his laptop. At Lance’s sudden entrance, he flinched and sat into an upright position, turning on his lamp.

“Lance?” Keith spoke, voice rusty. He looked confused, not that Lance could blame him. “What are you doing here?”

Suddenly, Lance felt silly. What was he going to say, a ghost woke him up? That there was a lady floating mid air in his room? While that is exactly what happened, he was almost sure that Keith would question his sanity.

“Uhh..” Lance tried to come up with an excuse, “I just wanted to see you.”

Keith looked unimpressed at the explanation, or lack thereof, “At five in the morning?”

“Yes!” Lance agreed. Now that he chose a story, he had to stick to it. Plus, he didn’t want to seem like a wimp in front of Keith.

Lance bounded forward, with faux confidence, over to Keith’s side. “Do you mind if I stay here for a little while?” He had attempted to make it sound casual, but his desperation seeped into his tone.

Keith, seeing this, didn’t question Lance further. Instead, he moved to the side slightly to make more room for Lance to sit. “I’m watching MythBusters.”

Lance snorted, “Of course you are.” But had no further protests as he settled down and turned his attention towards the laptop.

Day 3 - 7:30 AM

It was two hours later that Lance woke up disoriented. 

He momentarily forgot where he was, before he recognized the sleeping male next to him. Keith lay with his head propped uncomfortably against the backboard, laptop forgotten at the edge of the bed. They must have fallen asleep. 

Lance yawned and cracked his neck, wondering what had woken him up. They had both fallen asleep in their sitting position, leaning against the headboard, but Lance should have stayed asleep with how exhausted he was.

He didn’t bother waking Keith up, instead shimmying down to lay in a more comfortable position. Before he could fall back asleep, he heard a loud thud against the wall across from them. He jerked upright as he stared at the wall, trying to make out the noise.

Because Keith’s bed was up against the wall left of his door, that meant that Shiro’s room should be on the other side of that wall. 

Lance stayed silent, waiting to see if it would come again. Not even a full minute later, the thud came again, but this time much louder. Loud enough that Lance flinched when he heard it, despite him being prepared for it.

Keith stirred slightly at the noise, letting out an adorable breath of annoyance. Lance didn’t want to wake him, but he was worried.

“Keith.” Lance whispered, gently shaking Keith by his shoulder. When he was coherent enough, Lance continued, “C’mon. We should check on Shiro.”

Keith blinked more awake at that, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes softly. “Why?”

“Because-” Lance was cut off by another bang against the wall. It made Keith sit up straighter.

“What the fuck?” Keith grumbled, sliding out of bed. “Is he throwing stuff against the wall?”

Lance was about to slide out of bed too, when another thud sounded. This time, it was against a different wall, the one that divided the bedroom and the hallway.

They both stopped, but very soon afterwards, the bang sounded from the same wall, much louder. Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist, and dragged him back to the bed, away from potential danger.

Keith didn’t protest, instead sitting down close to Lance and staring at the wall. “Okay. So something is banging against the wall in Shiro’s room and in the hall-”

_ Bang _ . Another one sounded, this time against the wall that held a window facing the garden outside. “What the fuck.” Keith said in wonder, grabbing onto Lance’s hand.

The thuds started again, this time following immediately after each other. Keith and Lance inched closer together as the thuds became louder and more aggressive, sounding on all walls now. 

Then, all order was lost. There was slams against all walls at once, so loud that Lance’s screaming was deaf to his own ears. It continued to boom as Lance screamed, louder and louder until-

“Stop it!” Keith shrieked, both of them holding their ears at this point. The noise immediately stopped, but they felt no relief as the door was thrown open.

In sync, they both scrambled away from the door in fear, but Shiro was the one who ran inside, body in fighting position. “What’s wrong?!”

Keith and Lance panted from the floor, where they had fallen to in their desperation to escape. Shiro lowered his arms when he saw no sign of danger and walked over to them.

“What happened? Are you guys okay?” He asked anxiously, gently helping them stand up. Keith gruffly pulled himself up, but Lance gratefully accepted Shiro’s hand. 

Lance openly stared at him. “You didn’t hear that?”

“Hear what?” Shiro looked around curiously.

Lance and Keith shared a dubious look. “Thuds.” Keith explained further, “It was like someone was throwing furniture against all of the walls, simultaneously.”

Shiro evaluated the room again, but it seemed completely normal. He looked doubtful. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?”

“We weren’t sharing the same nightmare, Shiro.” Keith was obviously getting annoyed. Lance grabbed onto his arm, which he had previously let go of.

“I know it sounds stupid,” Lance started, “But it seriously happened. It really scared us.”

“I believe you.” Shiro said simply. However, they could tell he said it in an  _ I’m not going to invalidate your feelings but I don’t understand  _ way instead of an  _ I fully believe your story _ way.

Shiro glanced at the clock, “Well, maybe we should get an early start today. It doesn’t seem like you guys will get back to sleep anyways.” He glanced at them for their approval. When he got their complacent confirmation, he nodded his head in a satisfactory manor and went to get changed.

“You’re coming with me to my room to change.” Lance told Keith with certainty, “I’m not going alone.” 

Keith sighed loudly in exhaustion, running a hand through his messy hair. “Alright, let’s go.”

Day 3 - 6:02 PM

The walls of the foyer were covered in a deep red, almost blood like color. There were a few splotches of red staining Lance’s shirt and jeans. On the other hand, Keith looked like he’d been stabbed multiple times. They sat on the cement floor, leaning on each other and viewing their handy work.

“There’s something so satisfying about seeing a freshly painted wall.” Lance said tiredly. He was happy with the finished result, but that was probably because they’d spent almost the entire day painting. 

“Yeah.” Keith said simply, leaning harder onto Lance’s shoulder. He was getting paint on him, but Lance didn’t complain. They were both still shaken up from the morning.

Lance had yet to tell Keith the real reason that he went into his room last night. He had been adamant about not saying anything before, but it was different now. Maybe Keith would believe him after what they went through together.

Lance bit his lip nervously, trying to find the words to explain without sounding like he was losing his mind. 

“Hey,” Keith said softly, interrupting his train of thought. “You okay?” 

“Here’s the thing-” Lance paused, “I saw someone in my room last night, before I went to yours.” 

Keith pulled away, looking at Lance urgently, “Like an intruder? Lance why didn’t you tell me before?! That was probably why this morning-”

Keith was starting to stand up, but Lance yanked him back down. “Stop! Let me explain.”

Keith sat again hesitantly, probably ready to run to the others. Lance felt an intense appreciation at the fact that Keith actually waited, giving him an opportunity to speak. Lance forged on, “I saw a person in my room, floating above me. Like, uh, mid air hanging above me in bed.”

“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” Keith said it gently, as if he was afraid of hurting Lance’s feelings. As if Lance hadn’t been question his own sanity all day.

“No, I’m not. All I know is that I went to your room after that, fell asleep, and woke up again to banging against the wall. Honestly, the idea of it being a ghost isn’t that far fetched now.” Lance laid it out clear, he had nothing to lose at this point. 

Keith stared at him for a second, then nodded. “Okay. So you saw a ghost.” He seemed to be trying to figure out something to say. At least he didn’t laugh like a small part of Lance thought he would. Though, he knew deep down that Keith wouldn’t do that. They’d been getting closer recently, something Lance was ecstatic about. He knew if there was one person that was going to hear him out, it’d be Keith.

“Ghosts can’t hurt people right?” Keith stated confidently, though Lance wouldn’t necessarily agree. He’d easily accepted Lance’s theory, oddly. “Then maybe if we don’t do anything, they’ll go away? They’re like bullies in middle school.” Keith smiled in satisfaction. 

“Are you kidding? Bullies in middle school are vicious.” Keith laughed slightly at Lance’s obvious deflection. 

“It’ll be fine.” Keith patted Lance’s shoulder gently and started to stand, signifying the end of their break.

Somehow, Lance figured it wasn’t that easy. 

~~~

Day 4 - 3:54 AM

Once, just once, Lance wanted to wake up  _ normally _ in this house. 

Lance opened his eyes to complete darkness. His back was pressed against a hard surface, and when he gasped cold air filled his lungs. It took him a moment of disorientation to realize that he was laying on the floor. His arms shot out as he gripped across the hard floor, trying to figure out where he was.

Last night, he’d gone to sleep in his own bed, albeit hesitantly. He’d wanted to suggest that they share a room, but Keith had been comforted by the thought of a ghost causing the disturbances. Still adamant that they were harmless.

Lance sat up groggily, and whipped his head around, trying to see anything in the pitch black room. Finally, his hand found something and he grasped it, before going rigid.

Stairs. He felt stairs.

He was in the basement. 

Panic seized Lance as his breathing sped up, tears springing into his eyes. He took a couple deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, yet his imagination ran wild. Paranoia filled him, and he was sure that he felt eyes watching him. He clenched his fists and shut his eyes tight, though it didn’t make a difference.

The light switch. It was in the far right corner, he remembered.

Lance hesitantly felt the stairs and used them to pull himself up. Now standing, he grabbed the railing as he weighed his options. He could easily climb the stairs, but then he didn’t know if he could get out without someone on the other side to open the door. The light switch was his best option.

After a second of silence, Lance preparing himself for the walk across the pitch black room, he allowed disbelief to come flooding in. It was a  _ basement _ for god’s sake, he was making a big deal out of nothing.

He removed his grip from the stairs and with fake confidence, started to walk across the room, hands stretched out in front of him. Yet, he couldn’t stop his body from trembling.

Finally, his hands ran into a hard surface. The wall. Lance knew that he needed to reach the right corner of the room, so he slid his right hand out against the wall as far as it could go. With his hand stretched out, he slowly inched his way to the right, feeling along the wall. It felt so much longer than it should've as Lance’s body tensed in anticipation. 

Lance’s hand hit something. Instead of the hard surface he expected however, his hand was pressed against something soft and cold. He stopped in his tracks, letting out an unintentional whimper. Whatever Lance was touching, it was not a wall. 

He held his breath, not daring to move a muscle. He heard his own heartbeat ringing in his ears, loud compared to the deafening silence of the room. 

He felt a twitch against his hand. 

Pulling his hand back quickly, he let out a startled yelp and ran in the direction of the light switch, all caution tossed aside.

Hands fumbling desperately, he finally felt the familiar texture against his palm. He flipped the switch immediately, turning so his back was against the wall. As Lance watched, the lights in the room sprung to life, revealing a lonely basement. His labored breathing was the only sound heard other than the faint buzzing of the lights.

He was alone, but he didn’t feel relief. He just wanted to get the hell out of there already.

Glancing to his right, out of reflex more than anything, he nearly choked from inhaling his saliva.

A man, light skin and eyes wide was leaning against the wall next to him. His mouth was parted slightly and his skin had a gray tint, matching his dusty overalls. The first word that came to Lance's mind was  _ rot _ .

As Lance stared back into the man's eyes for what couldn’t have been more than three seconds, the light in the room started popping one by one.

_ No, no, no- _

Lance sprinted towards the stairs, desperate to reach the top before all the lights went out, and he was left in the darkness again, this time definitely not alone.

He reached the door just as the last couple lights were bursting. Pushing urgently against it, he found that his earlier theory was correct. It wouldn’t open. Lance screamed and banged on the door, desperately shoving his weight against it. He needed out. 

At this point he was crying, and the door wouldn't fucking open. The stairs behind him started creaking loudly. Someone was climbing them. The last lights in the room burned out. 

He banged both of his hands on the door with all his might, calling for anyone to just open the fucking door. The stair right behind Lance creaked loudly just as the door swung open, and Lance spilled out of the basement and into the dimly-lit hallway.

It was Shiro, eyes wide and panicked. He was wearing boxers and a loose t-shirt, obviously having just rushed out of bed.

Lance scrambled away from the door in desperation, grabbing it and throwing it shut. Finally having escaped from that wretched basement, he sobbed loudly and sunk to the floor, his back against the door.

More footsteps sounded as Keith and Pidge came running into the hall, eyes searching.

Meanwhile, Shrio collapsed to his knees in front of Lance, his eyes devastated, “I was looking for the key. I couldn't find it, and you were screaming and _God_ _Lance-_ ”

He was cut off as Keith launched himself at the still trembling Lance. He wrapped his arms around him tightly and looked around wildly, “What happened? What happened?”

Neither Shiro nor Lance answered his question, Lance too busy bawling his eyes out and Shiro looking just as confused as Keith.

Pidge heavily slid to the floor on Lance's left, the opposite side that Keith was on, and stared at him with glassy eyes.

Lastly, Hunk burst into the room carrying a wrench and eyes alert for signs of danger. Once he saw the scene before him, his hands fell to his side and he went to stand over Shiro, worriedly watching his friends.

Lance made a conscious effort to slow his breathing as he was hyperventilating, his face tucked into Keith’s neck as he rocked him gently. Keith continued to repeat his questions to Lance, but all he could think about was the pure terror he had felt only a few minutes prior.

Shiro was still kneeling there with a confused but devastated look in his eyes, as if he should have reached Lance faster.

Lance felt his face crumble as he imagined what would have happened if Shiro hadn't saved him. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Shiro muttering quiet thank-yous over and over again.

“Will someone please tell me what's going on?” Hunks voice boomed, too loud for the quiet room.

“I'll tell you, but please get me the fuck away from this door.” Lance replied tiredly, withdrawing from Shiro and attempting to pull himself up.

Over the next couple minutes the group moved in silence, helping Lance towards the dining room. They all sat at the table, gaze focused on him, scared to take their eyes off him. Keith took the seat to Lance’s right, keeping a firm hold on his hand.

Lance finally managed to get his breathing under control, but didn’t let go. Voice shaking, Lance recounted exactly what happened to him within the last half hour. He kept his explanation short, but even without the details everyone could see how shaken up he was.

“A man?” Keith was the first to speak after Lance finished his story.

Lance turned his gaze to Keith, eyes pleading, “I know it sounds crazy Keith, but it happened. It did happen-”

Keith grabbed Lance’s face between his hand and whispered, “Hey, I believe you. We believe you, Lance.”

Lance nodded shakily and turned his attention to the rest of the group.

“How did you even get in there?” Pidge asked in a horrified tone, crying slightly as she had been throughout Lance's whole story. Her hands were clasped together on the table in an effort to stop them from shaking violently. 

“I don't know, I just woke up and I was on the floor.” Lance answered her, eyes traveling to Hunk’s alarmed expression.

“Oh my God, Lance.” Was all Hunk said, but he reached across the table to hold Lance’s other hand, clutching it tightly.

“We need to get out of this house.” Shiro’s voice was hard as he said it, watching how shaken everyone was.

They all averted their gaze not wanting to argue but-

“We can't, Shiro.” Lance replied sadly, “We’ll lose most of the money we put down on this house if we leave. We need to finish the job.”

No one said anything in the moment, yet they all knew Lance was right. When they did finally decide to return to bed, they decided to all bunk out in Shiro’s room. Yet, Lance couldn't get himself to sleep for a while, every sound and every shadow striking fear in him. 


	3. Days 4 & 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm. Then, the storm. Terrible smells, concussions, and secret rooms. The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally finished! Thank you so much for being patient with me. I'm sorry it took so long! Also, thank you to everyone who's left kudos as well as the lovely comments I've received. I appreciate the support so much. Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment below!

Day 4 - 8:42 AM

Lance woke up for the first time in days feeling well rested. He didn’t sleep for long, but having his friends around comforted him. Glancing around, it seemed like most of his friends were still asleep, except Shiro. Lance stretched silently and got out of bed. Exiting the room quietly as to not wake the others, he made his way downstairs.

Shiro sat alone at the kitchen table, head resting in his hands tiredly. Lance couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty. Shiro was already stressed, he didn’t need Lance’s delusions to add to it.

Lance took the seat opposite Shiro, who looked up startled. At the sight of Lance he relaxed. “Good morning.” 

“Morning, Shiro.” Lance forced his voice to sound unconcerned. 

Shiro sighed and looked down at the table. A notebook sprawled with numbers lay there, Lance hadn’t noticed it before. It was their finance notebook. Of course, Pidge kept all their numbers stored in the computer, but Shiro preferred the old fashioned way. “I’m trying to see how much we’d lose if we sell the house. Maybe some other company can take a shot at it.”

“No!” Feeling guilty, Lance rushed, “We should finish here.”

Shiro looked incredulous, “Lance, last night was terrifying. I won’t risk your safety, or the safety of anyone else in this house.”

Lance tried to muster up his courage. “Shiro, these…” he searched for the word, “Occurrences are scary I will admit. But nothing has happened to us. None of us have been injured by them. You know if we resell the house it’ll set us back financially.”

Shiro looked as if Lance had just said everything on his mind. Rubbing his eyes harshly, he looked at Lance seriously, “If you really feel that way, we’ll give it another shot. But if something happens again, we’re leaving. Money be damned. Safety is our top priority.”

Lance nodded enthusiastically. He didn’t necessarily want to stay there, but they had a business to run. Plus, he was feeling better, less spooked. Hopefully things would lift up.

“Alright, lets go wake the others and tell them the news. I want to get done here as fast as possible, so we have a long day ahead of us.”

Day 4 - 12:15 PM

As soon as the day started officially, with everyone working hard at their assigned tasks, something became apparent to Lance. There was a horrible smell, one that hadn’t been there the day before. Old houses often had smells, but this one was especially rotten. 

He ignored it, continuing his job of making the kitchen presentable. First he had to tear off the tacky wallpaper that ran all along the wall in between the rustic cabinets. Then he painted it a deep red that matched the entrance area. 

At around noon, almost time for lunch, Keith wandered in. He looked quite sweaty; Lance remembered that him and Shiro were working on the broken fence. He sat heavily in a seat at the table, breathing audibly. 

“Hot outside?” Lance asked sympathetically, setting his paint brush onto the plastic wrap he had placed along the counter. He turned, giving Keith his full attention, and leaned against the counter, being careful to avoid getting paint on the back of his jeans.

“Very.” Keith grumbled. Glancing around he noted, “Looking good in here. Anything happen?”

Lance knew immediately what he was referring to. “Nope. All’s well.” Lance gave a small smile, before picking up his brush again. “What’s for lunch?” Usually they tried to cook to save on money, but obviously the kitchen was currently occupied.

“Shiro was thinking burgers.” Keith smile went away slowly, looking around with a scrunched nose, “What’s that smell?”

It wasn’t just in Lance’s head then. He pursed his lips, glancing back at Keith away from his work, “I wish I knew. I’ve been smelling it all day.” 

“Old houses have weird smells all the time. We’ll look around later.” Keith shrugged nonchalantly, before standing begrudgingly. “I should get back out there. Lunch is in 30.”

“Good luck!” Lance called as Keith exited the room. Refocusing, Lance felt an odd calm wash over him. It hadn’t felt this normal since he’d arrived at this house. He hoped it would stay that way.

Day 4 - 10:04 PM

The group of friends sat around a large dining table, sharing the events of their most peaceful day so far. At least, for Lance. 

“You should’ve seen Lance’s face,” Pidge wheezed, “when Hunk set his tools down on the counter. He looked like-” She broke into a laugh as Lance pouted.

Lance butted in, not letting her finish, “I had just finished cleaning! It’s perfectly reasonable to not want Hunk’s dirty tools on the freshly wiped kitchen countertops.”

“Well,” Shiro interjected, “At least you were able to finish painting. I think we’re gonna need another day to fix the entire fence.” His face cringed, obviously unhappy.

Hunk patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, “You can do it Shiro. At least you aren’t in charge of the entire garden.” Hunk grumbled, crossing his arms. 

“Okay guys, enough with the pity party.” Keith grumbled, but there was a small content smile on his face. “We should head to bed soon if we want to get up when the sun rises.”

Lance gasped, scandalized, “And who said we wanted to do that?”

“I did.” Shiro answered, laughing softly and shaking his head, “Daylight is important, and we need to be awake for as much of it as we can.”

Lance and Pigde groaned simultaneously, and Lance let his head fall dramatically into his hands. 

Shiro clapped and stood from his chair, “Okay, no more complaining! It’s bedtime.”

Keith snorted quietly and Lance snarked, “Okay,  _ dad _ .” Yet they all stood up and followed him to bed.

Day 5 - 7:10 AM

The alarm Pidge had set went off at the peak of dawn, and the group begrudgingly shifted, attempting to wake themselves up.

The first thing that Lance noticed was the smell. It was nauseating, ten times worse than it had been the day before. His hand immediately covered his nose as he sat up in the bed. 

“Oh my god, what is that smell?” Pidge squealed from next to him, pulling up the bed sheets to cover the lower half of her face. Shiro, who slept on the other side of her, sat up as well. 

“I don’t know, but it’s fucking disgusting.” Keith grumbled from the floor, where his face was buried into a pillow. Hunk, who seemed to be the only one wide awake, simply wrinkled his nose.

Shiro moved from the bed to stand in front of them, looking less professional than he intended with his bed hair and wrinkled shirt. “Okay, first thing on the agenda today- find the source of that smell! We can’t get any work done in here with it.” Shiro’s words were a bit slurred, as he seemed to be attempting to breath through his mouth solely.

Everyone murmured their agreement and the day officially began.

Day 5 - 9:11 AM

Over two hours. That’s how long they’d been searching for the source of the smell. The group split up and searched each room and closet, attempting to find some sort of dead animal or rotten food. They kept brushing past each other in the search, thinking they’d found where the smell was coming from.

The only place they didn’t check was the basement. They had avoided going in there since Lance’s incident, not even sparring it a second glance when they passed.

Finally, with no other options, the entire group silently gathered in the foyer and stared at the basement door.

“We go in together.” Shiro said after a moment. “We’ll take in flashlights and look around. It’s possible there’s a dead rat or something in all that clutter.”

As they got ready to go down, Lance couldn’t help the nerves that built in his stomach. He stood at the back of his friends as they descended, glancing around in paranoia. 

Nothing was amiss. It looked exactly like it had when Lance first found it, no loiterers in sight. One thing was clear as soon as they stepped into the room though. The smell had gotten worse, which means they were searching in the right place.

Or so they thought. But as they spread out to search, shirts over their noses, they found absolutely nothing that could be causing it. 

Yet, Lance knew something the others didn’t. He stood beneath the small ceiling door that looked exactly like an attic entrance and accepted defeat. The smell was definitely coming from inside, it reeked like something rotten. Gathering his courage, he called to his friends. 

“Guys, I think it’s coming from up there.”

The group gathered round below the door, staring at it in apprehension. It was obvious none of them wanted to open it, but they couldn’t ignore the smell. It was getting worse by the minute. 

Finally Hunk stepped forward. “Stand back.” As the others backed away, he grabbed onto the string hanging from the ceiling and pulled down firmly.

A ladder unfolded and hit the ground with a thud. From their point on the floor, they couldn’t see into the darkness that lay above them. 

Shiro silently moved forward with his flashlight, hesitantly climbing the stairs and peering through. Then he turned towards his friends, perplexed. “There’s an entire hallway up here guys. It’s not the room I was expecting. It’s huge.” 

Pidge was the first to clamber up after him, her curiosity getting the best of her, closely followed by Hunk. As they slipped into the darkness, leaving the pair alone, Lance hesitated.

“We can stay down here if you want.” Keith offered, making Lance jump slightly at his voice. He was staring at Lance with an openly concerned look on his face. 

Lance simply shook his head, “No. Let’s go after them. We’re safer as a group anyways.” He knew exactly how dramatic he sounded, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Keith climbed up the ladder, and Lance followed hurriedly behind, not wanting to be left in the dark room alone.

As soon as Lance reached the top he realized Shiro wasn’t exaggerating. A long dark hallway laid out in front of them, with two doors on the left and two on the right. It was almost an exact copy of the hallway where their bedrooms were located.

The rest of the group was standing by the small door, staring in awe around them. When Lance joined them, he felt an overwhelming surge of gratefulness, that the small door didn’t slam shut like they often did in the movies. Instead it stayed wide open as they left it.

Slowly inching their way along, they subconsciously headed towards the source of the smell. Lance’s hand gripped onto the back of Keith’s shirt, but he let go with a flush when Keith gave him a questioning glance.

Lance distracted himself by looking at the paintings lining the walls. There were a lot, almost too many, and it was nearly impossible to see the wallpaper underneath. A hand hesitantly gripped his and Lance turned his attention back to Keith, gaping at the light blush that dusted his cheeks. Keith was very obviously avoiding Lance’s gaze, but he tightened his grip on Lance’s hand, firm and comforting.

“Let's go in.” Shiro’s voice broke them from their silent interaction. He had his hand on the door knob of the last door on the right side of the hallway. He had apparently decided that the smell was coming from inside. That, or he wanted out of the creepy hallway, eyes from the paintings following their every move.

Shiro opened the door slowly, and it creaked ominously on its hinges. It was fully furnished and dusty, dimly lit by candles that somehow stayed lit, even with the air from the hallway rushing in. The smell blasted them full force, and Lance gasped as he covered his nose with his free hand.

The group slowly entered the room, Lance clutching Keith’s hand tight and staring at his back. Then there was a loud bang, and he ran into Keith from behind. 

The door had shut with his friends inside, and Keith and him outside. He wasn’t sure which was worse. 

“Guys?” Keith called, letting go of Lance’s hand so he could try and force the door open.

“Why’d you close it?” Pidge called from the other side, her voice trembling. Her small hands hit the door a few times, the sound echoing in the empty hall.

Keith violently jiggled the doorknob, “We didn’t! Try pulling it open, and I’ll push from this side.”

As Keith and the others were attempting to open the door, Lance had frozen, his muscles all seized up in fear. He was staring towards the front of the hallway, eyes wide open.

“Lance help me push.” Keith gritted as he strained against the door. When he finally glanced up at Lance, he stopped to ask what was wrong, but his voice left him as he followed Lance’s gaze.

Standing in the hallway was the ghost of a man, the same man that Lance had seen only a couple of nights ago. He was standing, or floating more accurately, blocking the exit. 

Keith stopped pushing on the door and took a step closer to Lance, “Do you see that?” His voice was an octave higher than normal, but Lance couldn’t make his mouth move to tease him.

“Guys?” Shiro called, “What’s going on?” They had stopped pulling on the door, and the area was flooded with silence. 

Lance finally found his voice, realizing that he was the most experienced in this situation. It wasn’t just him this time, Keith was here too. He had to do something.

“We’re okay Shiro.” Lance assured, his voice only wavering slightly.

“Okay?” Keith’s voice was bordering on hysterical, “There’s a ghost out here, looking like it wants to kill us, and you think we’re okay?”

Lance ignored the startled shouts of his friends on the other side of the door and focused on Keith. As he remembered what Keith had told him the other day, he reassured, “He can’t hurt us Keith, remember? He’s just trying to scare us.” 

Lance also ignored the quiet “it’s working” that Keith let out, and started to walk in the ghost’s direction.

“What are you doing?” Keith roughly pulled Lance back and behind him, standing in front of him protectively. “These assholes have it out for you; you can’t just walk right passed him! And what about the others?” 

Lance reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Then we’ll go together. We just have to make it to Hunk’s tool box on the kitchen counter. Then we can get the door knob off.”

Lance squared his shoulders, attempting to portray the bravery that he didn’t feel, and walked in the direction of the ghost. Keith reluctantly followed, their shoulders brushing.

As they reached the ghost, they went in opposite directions, hoping to sneak around him. However, as soon as they were within grabbing distance, the ghost rushed towards Keith. 

With a shout, Keith stepped back in alarm, but he was too late at the ghost threw him against the wall with a simple push. He hit the wall with a crash, his head snapping back against a rare painting free patch of wall, and he crumpled to the ground.

Lance let out a shriek as this and rushed to him, gently cradling his head, forgetting about the ghost. “Are you okay? Keith? Keith, open your eyes.” Lance was panicking, his heart almost beating out of his chest. 

The shouts of Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge which had increased at the ruckus, were deaf to his ears. He kept his gaze focused on Keith as he willed for a sign of life.

Finally, Keith groaned softly and shifted his head. Lance almost wept with joy, leaning down to place his ear over Keith’s rising and falling chest.

“Lance!” 

A particularly loud shout jolted him, and Lance looked back towards the room that his friends were in.

“He’s okay!” Is all Lance shouted back, which probably made no sense to them without context. Lance didn’t care though, his relief felt almost physical in the stuffy air.

“What happened?” That was Hunk, sounding almost parental in his worry. 

Lance took a deep breath, finally working at keeping his breathing under control. “It’s Keith. I think he has a concussion. He’s unconscious.” Lance couldn’t bring himself to explain more, not even sure what happened himself. Apparently, the idea of ghosts being harmless was bullshit. 

“Lance calm down.” He wasn’t sure how Shiro could tell he was freaking out, but it was probably his trembling voice or the fact that he was borderline hyperventilating. “Go downstairs. Get to the phone and call the police. Don’t say anything about ghosts. Tell them renovations went wrong and your friends are stuck, and one of them has a concussion.”

Lance listened to the plan silently, standing on shaky legs. The ghost had disappeared it seemed, which didn’t comfort him at all. It had to be somewhere, watching.

“I’ll be back.” Lance assured them after a few moments of silence. Then he silently descended into the basement, alone. 

Day 5 - 10:00 AM

As Lance stepped into the foyer it felt odd to see the sunlight peeking through the windows. After the traumatic events in the candle lit hallway and his uneventful cross through the pitch black basement, it felt almost refreshing to see the rays of light hit the concrete floor.

But Lance didn’t pause for long enough to enjoy it. He crossed toward the small table by the front door, the one that held the speaker that malfunctioned only four grueling days ago, and snatched his phone up. 

He typed out 911 and just as he was about to hit the green call button, the phone flew from his hands and smashed into the widow adjacent him. Lance took a stumbling step back as the ghost from before appeared a few feet away from him.

He drifted towards Lance threateningly, eyes burning with a rage that Lance couldn’t fully comprehend. As Lance’s back hit the door he finally understood. It wanted him to leave.

“No.” Lance said firmly. “My friends are here.” His knees were shaking and he pressed his hands into the door behind him, hoping to ground himself. 

“Get out.” A voice hissed, though the ghost didn’t open his mouth. It seemed to be coming from the walls themselves, booming through the room better than a speaker ever could.

The voice continued, chanting the words like a mantra, the sound pressing in on Lance who covered his ears to block the sound. It got louder and louder-

“We’ll leave!” Lance shouted in distress, only to be drowned out by the repeating words. It grew louder, sounding as if dozens of voices were shouting together. If anything, Lance’s words only seemed to further encourage the scattered screams.

“I’ll make sure no one comes here again!” He was scrambling for anything at this point, desperate to stop the pounding screams that rattled his skull.

The chanting stopped. The ghost drifted closer to him, so close that Lance would have been able to feel his breathing if he was alive. But he didn’t do anything, waiting.

Lane started again shakily, “We bought this house. If you let me and my friends go, safely, we’ll make sure no one disturbs you again. Once we leave, no one will ever come back.” Lance wasn’t sure if this was something he could promise, but he’d do anything to leave.

The house was deafeningly silent. The ghost stayed, stock still, until it vanished completely. The overwhelming pressure of suffocating air was gone, and a weight lifted off his chest. 

A distant crash sounded. Lance looked towards the basement door, just as Hunk rushed through. He was looking around wildly, his eyes alert for threats. “Are you okay? What happened?” 

“We need to go. Now.” 

Hunk’s bewildered eyes met Lance’s fierce ones, “What?”

“How’s Keith?” Lance trekked on, feeling impatient. 

Hunk blinked slowly, “He’s fine, just waking up. Shiro says its a mild concussion at most.” 

Lance could’ve wept with relief right there, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure how much time they had, and the ghost didn’t seem to be very patient.

“Okay. Go get them, and tell them we need to leave. I’ll start getting our stuff together.” Lance rushed toward the stairs, not waiting to hear Hunk’s onslaught of confused questions. He’d answer them once they were far away from this place.

It was a good thing they traveled around a lot, because they didn’t have much stuff to pack up. 

When his friends finally caught up with him, he’d packed most of their things into the suitcases set in the entranceway. Keith was hung off of Shiro’s shoulder, looking tired but okay for the most part. Pidge stood next to them with messy hair, probably from her habit to pull at it when she’s stressed.

“What’s going on Lance?” Shiro asked exhausted, “Did you call the cops? How did we get out?”

“We need to go. I don’t know how much time we have.” Lance walked over to Keith despite his words, brushing Keith’s hair off of his forehead gently to look him over closely. Keith leaned his head into the cool contact of Lance’s hands on his warm skin.

“At least tell us something!” Pidge piped in, sounding frustrated.

Lance sighed and stepped away from Keith once he was reassured that he was fine. “I made a deal, okay? He lets us out safely, and in return we leave, never coming back and never selling the house to anyone else.”

“Who’s  _ he _ ?” Three of them asked simultaneously.

“You made a deal with a ghost?” Keith asked, voice raspy. Then, after a moment, he smiled fondly, “Of course you did.”

Lance wasn’t sure what to make of that, but it seemed like a compliment so he let it go. He pulled at his friend’s arms insistently and ignored their questions until they understood that he wasn’t going to explain any more until they were out of the house.

As they stepped through the large wooden doors, Keith’s arm now around Lance and the others carrying their suitcases, Lance felt happy for the first time in what seemed like forever. Keith’s head rested against Lance’s shoulder, and as they left without looking back, he knew everything would be okay.

  
  



End file.
